The Pirate Code // Karlnap Fanfic

chapter thirteen

"Land, ho!", someone shouted from the crows nest, down onto the deck.
They had left behind the storm a day ago and right now in the darkness of the night there was the faint, arcane glow of the island of Garnor, appearing on the horizon.

The crews gathered, all silently looking at this island that most of them had only heard stories about.
Niki and Bad both took off their hats, holding them to their chests as they saw the island no one ever dared to find before.
They had outdone their teachers with finding this spot on a map.

And in a careless moment, that was shining like a beacon of hope in his heart, Karl held onto Sapnaps hand.
They all stood there taken aback by this discovery and no one dared to say a word as they all stared in awe at the history they were making.

Until Niki and Bad left to mark this place on their maps and they all went back to their spots on the ships. Karl let go of Sapnaps hand and looked up at him with tears in his eyes and a shaky smile on his lips.
"We found it", he whispered and without a second thought Sapnap hugged him.

"There is so much hope now", he whispered and while for everyone around, it looked like two stunned captains, amazed and overwhelmed by making history, for them it was so much more. It was two men so deeply in love and filled with so much light it brightened up the night of doubt.
Karl felt tears on his cheeks and smiled.
"It's gonna be okay", Sapnap said and Karl smiled with tears running down his face.

And then suddenly they all felt this weird feeling as if they just walked through a wall of air. Like crossing a border.
Karls curse pulsed on his skin, made his heart drop for a second, before he took a deep breath in.

His lungs felt less restricted, his heart was freed from the migraine he had learned to ignore and that icy cold feeling of constant anxiety left his limbs.
The sorcerer didn't reach in this part of the world. Karl reached for the cursed image, touched the inky lines and the touch didn't hurt. His eyes widened. This really was were they were meant to be, where they were meant to find the artifact that would allow him a long, happy life.

Sapnap watched, a soft gasp escaping his lips. "Doesn't it- Do you feel better?", he asked and Karl nodded slowly, almost in disbelief.
Sapnap looked around, saw a few of the crew standing just out of ears reach, but not out of sight and he pressed his lips together.
"I wish I could express how glad I am that you're better here, but I don't have the words and I don't have the chance to show you with a kiss", he said and Karl smiled.
"It's okay, I'm really overwhelmed, I haven't felt like this in years", he replied, "Briefly when I kissed you for the first time, but it didn't fail to return, but now it's gone. The dread, the anxiety, the stress. I feel so good"

"Do you think it's the aura of the artifact?" "I don't know, but we will find out, we- we can do anything I feel like", Karl said and his eyes filled with this spark of hope and joy and excitement and suddenly he shot forward and kissed him.
So deeply satisfied with where he was and so without a doubt in love.

He laughed and giggled as Sapnap leaned him down and their captains hats both went flying off their heads. He didn't care who saw, not now, not in this moment of pure hope and light, not when there was land in sight and the solution to his pain in reaching distance.

He kissed him again, before he smiled at him so bright and joyful it ripped the floor from beneath Sapnaps feet.
Full swoon he let himself be lead into a really uncoordinated little dance on the middle of the deck.
And they laughed like they had just had a whole bottle of rum and danced like it too and Karls heart felt so full he could almost feel it burst.

"I love you", he said and held Sapnaps face in between his hands, "I love you"
Dramatically Sapnap leaned him down and kissed him. "And I love you, my darling", he said, smile just as wide as Karls.

And suddenly a confused, almost shocked: "Captain?"
They turned to look and saw half of the crew of Karls ship, the grand lightning, staring in shock, some furious at this revelation.
"You know the pirate code." "How could you?"

"How could I what? Fall in love? Try it, it's the most wonderful thing in the world", Karl said as he looked at Sapnap so deeply in love and so god damn proud of it, not even knowing where this sudden confidence and bravery came from. "The code is more suggestion then rule anyway!", Bad suddenly yelled over from the other ship, holding both thumbs up at the couple.

"It's what we always followed", someone said, "We can't just change the rules we pray and live by!" "The captain must be strong for sailing the open seas with the crew!"
Karl felt Sapnaps hand protective on his back, pulling him closer.
"So you would rather have your captain unhappy and filled with loneliness and sorrow, then have him happy and filled with love and joy?", he asked loudly and suddenly the raging voices hushed, "That's what I thought"

"I don't understand anyone's problem, with him being in a relationship", Chris suddenly said and then another deckhand Karl knew to be Corpse said: "Yeah, me neither"
"Same here", Skeppy agreed and Niki just nodded along, while keeping the ship on course.

Karl smiled as most of his crew agreed and drowned out the negative voices from before. He held onto Sapnaps hand tightly and said: "I'm in love and Sapnap is the one I want, whoever is too traditional with the code to accept it is welcome to leave on the next island we dock on."
A mumbling went through the crew and suddenly from the other ship they heard Punz.

"I fucking knew you were gay for Karl, hey Foolish you owe me ten gold!"